A Musician’s Guide to the Perfect Playlist
In my experience, there are two types of people when it comes to listening to music. There are those who put any song they hear and enjoy into one mega-playlist full of possibly hundreds of songs, and press shuffle and let the universe decide what songs will come up that day and there are those who aren’t as keen to leave their music selections up to chance, and sort all of their favorite songs into specific playlists, and find new songs through the vibe that the playlist captures.
Neither of these listening strategies are better than the other, but if you’re like me, you might find not only the satisfaction of using playlists as a creative outlet, but also use your hyper-specific playlists to cater to any mood or occasion. I’ve been making playlists on Apple Music, my preferred streaming platform, for about five years, and have since accrued over 50 playlists. Over the years I have turned my hobby of making playlists into a love language, making them to care for myself and also show others my affection and appreciation.
If you are looking to step up your music game, expand your library, or make a playlist for someone special, here are my 10 steps to creating the perfect playlist.
1. Find Your Vibe
Every good playlist has a certain feeling to it that can be heard in every song, whether it be hyped up, sad, powerful, fun, or mellow. Oftentimes for me, this inspiration can be found in just a few songs. I’ll hear one song, either new or long-beloved, and think, I want to listen to more like this. If you have a certain sound or vibe that you are looking to capture in your playlist, it’s surprisingly easy to create if you know where to begin.
2. Start a List
My next step after getting an idea or inspiration is to make a mental or physical list of artists that I already know I want to include. Don’t worry if your list is short at the beginning of your journey, because it will most definitely grow after you start putting everything together. It’s important in this step to even include the artists that you aren’t sure will work but you want to try anyways, because even one good song from an artist you’re unsure about can enhance your playlist.
3. Add the Essentials
Now it’s time to start your playlist! I will usually start with a working title, and begin by adding in the few songs that inspired me to start the playlist. After adding in those songs, consult your list of artists and begin looking through their discography. All streaming platforms display the artist’s top tracks on their profile, and that is always a good place to start. Listen through their top hits and you may find some songs that you forgot about, or that you’ve heard of but never knew the name.
4. Branch Out
Here’s where the playlist really begins to come to life. After getting a solid base of songs that you’re already at least semi-familiar with, expand your list of artists by finding your streaming platform’s recommended artists. At the bottom of an artist’s profile, you’ll find a curated list of artists with a similar sound, or who share an audience. Repeat step 3 with these artists to find whether or not they fit your vibe. It’s also important to remember to be flexible with the sound you’re trying to make. I believe that a longer playlist is a stronger playlist, and if a song doesn’t match your original idea perfectly, it can still work and it assures that you don’t get sick of the same songs on a short playlist. Be open-minded while listening to new songs and give a variety of artists an equal shot, regardless of previous opinions you may have heard.
5. Browse Playlists
Although this may seem like cheating, it is completely acceptable to take advantage of the curated playlists that your streaming service has to offer. Searching for keywords that relate to your new playlist will almost always bring up something similar to what you’re searching for, and taking the time to listen through will most definitely find you some great additions to your playlist. Another great feature is to find an individual song on your playlist so far, and scroll down to see which curated playlists this song is already on.
6. Dig Deeper
Although this may be the most tedious step of the process so far, it is the perfect way to find those lesser known deep cuts that will bring your playlist together. Pick your top artists featured on the playlist so far, and start listening to their albums all the way through. Through this process, I’ve had great luck finding hidden gems to add to my playlist.
7. Do Some Research
My next move when making a playlist is to get off of my music app and head to the internet for some searching. This step isn’t only for the purpose of finding more songs for the playlist, but for learning some cool trivia and history about the music I’m listening to. Skimming the Wikipedia pages for the individual artists and genres of my playlists has made the music so much more impactful, and also brings about topics of conversation when you’re listening with friends. One of the most important things you can learn from online research is to find the artist’s influences and inspirations. Every artist draws their sound from a variety of great artists before them and around them, and when added together, the songs can mesh beautifully. In addition to basic search engines, the website chosic.com is a wonderful tool for finding similar artists and songs to your playlist.
8. Does Order Matter?
This step is skippable depending on the purpose of your playlist, but you need to figure out whether the order of songs matters. I start every playlist by throwing together everything randomly, but then depending on the purpose, I start sorting out the songs to find the perfect order. I highly recommend putting some thought into the order of shorter playlists curated for friends and loved ones, because it adds an extra level of thoughtfulness that makes a difference in the listening experience. If you decide to curate the order, my advice is to listen to what you have on shuffle a couple of times to get a feel for how the songs sound with each other. Note when you hear two back-to-back songs with a great transition, and put them next to each other. I recommend starting off your playlist with the more upbeat and heavy songs, and slowly order the songs to descend in intensity, so before your listener knows it, they are slowly relaxing and immersing themselves more in the music. If at all possible, avoid adding songs from the same artist multiple times in a row in order to mix up your sound.
9. Talk to Friends
If you have friends or family members with a similar taste in music to you, they can be a great resource for finding music to add to your playlist. Ask them what their favorite songs from a certain genre or artist are, and add them into your playlist to try them out. Asking friends and family for music recommendations can also bring about meaningful connections with them, and they will be eager to listen to your playlist with their recommended songs added in. Ask your parents or grandparents for suggestions of music they listened to when they were young, and I guarantee you that they will be delighted to share.
10. Finishing Touches
I am a firm believer that no playlist is ever truly complete, but once you have your playlist to a good length (50-70 songs is what I usually aim for), it’s time to make the playlist official with the perfect name and cover photo. When it comes to names, this is an entirely personal choice, drawing from your original inspiration or even incorporating a fun fact you learned from your research. I recommend keeping it short and simple. Next, one of my favorite steps of this whole process, is to find a cover image for your playlist that brings it all together. I always consult Pinterest for these images, searching through photos of the artists featured, aesthetic shots of something that reminds you of the music, or of something you’d like to look at while listening to this music. Save a couple photos to your phone and try them out with your playlist to see which one matches best. Adding fun covers to your playlist makes looking through your music library beautiful and satisfying. And with that, voilà! You have made the perfect playlist!
